Down The Rabbit Hole
by GinnyMastrani
Summary: Jack Lannister is a normal teenage boy- that is, until he gets a job working at the Tea Shop. Suddenly he is drawn into a world full of politics, cards, and most of all, Wonder.


Down The Rabbit Hole

Chapter One

Ginny Mastrani

Authors note for this series: I write this note after having written only a thousand words for this entire book series. I don't know if it will be become a novel length or remain short. I don't even know if this should be classified as fanfiction with how far I am straying from the beaten path. But isn't that what the idea of Alice is for? So I present to you Down the Rabbit Hole, and I sincerely hope you enjoy this teaser of a chapter. Good luck.

"Jack wasn't nimble, Jack wasn't quick, Jack knocked over the candlestick!" Identical twin voices chimed together. Jack gave them a scathing look as he picked up the candle stick that had fallen over. He grabbed the plate of food and walked to his room that was only a hallway away. They had gone from a large house in the country with their mother to this small three room apartment in the city. He sighed to himself, secretly enjoying the way his younger brothers were still capable of giggling, though he himself felt like he would be happier not living. He walked into his room and set the plate down, knowing that he wasn't going to eat it. He fed his fish and watered his pot of grass and laid down on his bed, staring at the ceiling blankly. A sense of melancholy washed over him, filling up the emptiness and he climbed to his feet. He opened the door mechanically, setting the full dish of food down in front of his brothers.

"I'm going out." He told them, ruffling their ginger hair as they attacked his plate of food with vigor. Jack smiled and walked out the front door, not bothering to grab any sort of jacket. It wasn't still midsummer thankfully. The blond teen wandered the dirty streets of the city, after a day of searching for a job to support his family while his father worked to support his alcohol addiction. It was with a heavy heart that the sixteen year old Jack happened upon the Tea Shop. It lay in the middle of an alleyway, away from the bustle of the heart of New York. It was marked by a wooden sign swinging above a faded red door, with two windows on either side of it. And in one window was a sign labeled 'Now Hiring'. How curious he mused, that this sign should pop out at him. And so he walked into the shop, swinging the door open cautiously.

"A customer!" A sweet female voice chimed as Jack apprehensively crept into the strange shop.

"Oh, hello." Jack waved his hand slightly in greeting, stopping and staring at the floor, not out of awkwardness but surprise. It felt springy beneath his converse clad feet and it appeared to be made of grass.

"Hello there." Purred a silky smooth voice to his right. Jack turned to him and nodded politely.

"Hello, I'm sorry. Are you closed?" he asked, the corners of his lips turning up in a half smile.

"Oh no, we never close." The blonde girl from earlier assured him, waving her hand, smiling brightly at him. Jack turned his attention to her and glanced her over assessingly in the disconcerting way of his. Her blonde curls cascaded down to her mid back and her slim body was clad in a light blue dress with a fluffy white apron tied around the waist. She looked young enough but she had laugh lines curving around her eyes.

"Excellent. I saw your sign." He explained easily, feeling like he had to have a reason to be there past 9 pm.

"You did?" she asked, blinking as if this were something that didn't happen often. "Well then, come right in. We have an application around here somewhere." She began rummaging around behind the counter.

"Sorry about the mess." Said a third, new voice. "We haven't had an applicant in such a long time." The new man was tall and brunette, with what seemed to be an American or Canadian accent.

"It's no problem. It's an interesting shop you've got here." He commented, his toes curling in his shoes, wishing he could chuck them off and feel the blades of grass between his toes. Settling into a city life after the country had certainly been harder than expected.

"We get that a lot." Said the brunet man amusedly. Suddenly the girl popped out from behind the counter waving a piece of paper enthusiastically in the air.

"Found it!" She exclaimed, just as Jack suddenly became aware of a presence at his shoulder.

"You smell like home." The voice remarked, inhaling deeply again. Luke smiled, strangely unfazed by the man suddenly appearing in his bubble.

"Thank you, I think." He said amusedly.

"Spade! Stop sniffing our potential coworker!" The blonde girl snapped, sending an apologetic smile towards Jack. The man, now identified as Spade, stepped away, sulking.

"I was only being friendly." He said pouting, reaching out his hand and curling one of Jack's blond locks around his finger. The girl huffed.

"You are incorrigible." She snapped, smiling despite herself. "I'm Alice." She said, holding out her slim hand to Jack. He clasped it with a smile.

"Jack. Jack Lannister." He introduced himself. Alice and Spade both stared at him for a moment before identical smiles broke out across their faces.

"That's a lovely name. I'm Spade, or Dante as some people call me." Jack smiled and shook his hand as well.

"I'm Aaron, but you can call me Ace." Ace, the brunet, said, keeping his distance.

"That's funny. If you replace Alice's name with Heart we would all have names related to a deck of cards." Jack remarked with an amused smile. The other three were silent for a moment, small sardonic smiles on their faces.

"So we would." Ace said eventually, breaking the silence that had fallen. Jack smiled at her and took the application from her grasp.

"I'll fill this out and come back at a more decent hour shall I?" The blond boy asked, letting the slight tension drain out of the room with a few well placed words and a smile. He was good at that. Alice smiled brightly at him as their hands touched lingeringly.

"Wonderful. We'll be waiting." She smiled and retracted her hand, as did Jack. Spade and Ace watched from their spots by the door appraisingly and Jack waved at them as he walked out. Spade turned to Ace with raised eyebrows.

"Think he could be the one?" He asked, voice lowered to a murmur. Ace watched the door appraisingly and nodded.

"Yes. Yes I think he could be." The two liaisons for Underland smiled at each other, eyes alight with hope.


End file.
